No matter how big a foodie we are, I am certain that each one of us have one particular fruit/vegetable/meat that we just cannot stand, for no particular reason. I know people who can't stand pineapple. I know people who cannot tolerate curd. My nemesis is watermelon. So, if you do plan on eating a watermelon, stay far far away from me.
I have often argued that we just do not wake up one fine day not liking a particular thing. There has got to be some incident related with that particular food that has made the person despise it so much. The very sight or smell of it could trigger a lot of subconscious memories deep inside and makes you want to run away. Most of the time we do not know why we don't like something and we claim that we have always disliked it from the time we remember.
I used to love watermelons as a child. I remember eating like there was no tomorrow. During the season the fridge always had a few, and I never hesitated when it came to helping myself. One day however, when we were staying in Calcutta, I assume I over did it. Maybe I did not really over eat. Maybe it was just a bad melon, but I clearly remember vomiting for a very long time. I threw up all over the house and I felt sick and I remember that that was one lousy day. I forgot about watermelons for a long long time and I just stayed away from it. When I grew a little older, I remember someone sitting next to me and eating a melon, while I gag and run to the toilet. Right from then, I would always feel pukish and sometimes throw up at the very sight or smell of watermelon. I could not sit next to someone eating one.
Over the years I believe that things have improved. I just could not avoid someone having a watermelon juice when we went to a juice stall. Eventually I got used to it, and now I don't mind sitting next to someone who is munching, but I try to look away. I still cannot eat one and I cannot even touch one that has been cut open. But I guess I have my reason. I blame it on my bad experience. What's your bad experience?
One of my favorite things to eat is chicken liver. No it is not my no: 1 dish, but I really like it a lot. Any curry I make, the liver is reserved for me by default. Sometimes it is over even before the dish is on the table. Few days ago my mother made some liver fry, which I feasted on and around two days ago, she saw me hunt for the liver in the chicken curry she had made and she went on to tell me a story of how as a child, I did not know that chickens had livers, maybe until I was six or seven years old.
My mother loves the liver too, and even back then, the liver never made it to the table. It was claimed by my mother in the name of "taste check" as soon as the dish was ready. I never got a taste of it and I never even knew it existed. However one holiday we were in my native place and was spending time with my grand parents. My grand mother was in the kitchen and I assume she must have been making chicken. Before lunch was served she calls me into the kitchen and hands me one funny looking thing on a small plate. She was sure excited to give me that, as it was the only one in the whole dish. I look at it suspiciously and have a confused look on my face. I ask her what that was and she seemed even more confused that I did not know what that was. She tells me it is a liver and I think I tried convincing her that chickens did not have livers, cause I have never come across one in the few years I have been eating.
Right at that moment my mother walks into the kitchen and my grandmother looks at her and demands to know why I do not know what a liver is. A sly grin probably appeared on my mothers face as she explained how she "tastes" the food before serving it. That solved the mystery for my grandmother. I don't think I cared. I was busy biting into the yummy piece of new body part I had discovered. I walked out of the kitchen a much wiser boy and I don't think I may have missed many livers since.
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